Nottingham Castle and Robin Hood

Nottingham is home to the notorious Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. Although the Forest is a good 30 minute bus ride out of the city, you can still visit the castle near the center of town. Unlike many other castles and stately homes, the Nottingham Castle is more of a gallery of artifacts and art. It's interesting, but the outside grounds are what attract me to the castle. The hedges are trimmed to create silhouettes of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and there are giant shade trees and grass everywhere. It's a nice escape from the busy streets of Nottingham. We visited yesterday and were able to see a gallery of costumes worn during the filming of the new Robin Hood movie. Which, by the way, is a fabulous movie and was not actually filmed in Nottingham.

Food

The English are known for their bad food, but I've had nothing but delicious food since I've been here. And, if you're really craving food from home, there's no shortage of Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, or TGI Fridays. They're everywhere! I think the McDonalds in Nottingham is the biggest one I've ever been in. It's 2 stories.

One thing that has changed since I've been here last is the food condiments. I know that's a silly thing to notice, but when there's a bottle of ketchup on your table instead of packets of vinegar and salad cream, your heart will go pitter pat. I love ketchup with my chips and the first time I was in the UK there was no ketchup to be found. Now there's a bottle on every table. They must have known I was coming to visit.

You can pretty much find any type of food you want here. A few mexican food places have opened up recently so I wont have any burrito withdrawals. Yesterday we had pizza from a kabab/burger/pizza takeout. Just about on every corner you can find an ice cream truck selling soft whippy, which is their version of soft serve only better.

I bought a jar of lemon curd. Oh, sweet sweet lemon curd. I never did find any at home, so I'm so happy to have it here.

I plan on trying a few of the UK's more notorious foods while I'm here; the scotch egg and haggis.

Nottingham

It rained for the first time this morning as we were getting ready to leave London. I can't say I was too sad to leave London though...mostly because of that pigeon! He woke me up at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am, and finally decided he was tired at 6am. I made my peace with him, and we headed off to the train station.
We arrived in Nottingham a few hours ago and it felt like I had come home. It's been 3 years since I've been here, but it all seems so familiar. In fact, I remembered the entire route to the tram stop and all the way into town. I love Nottingham. Last time I was here, I spent 4 weeks in a small room overlooking the courtyard of an old meat packing plant. Turns out, Hank and I are in that very same room...and it hasn't changed one bit. Talk about a blast from the past. At least I haven't found any spiders yet. The rest of the group doesn't get here until Saturday, so we have a few days of quiet. You'll all be happy to know that I bought a lovely cupcake at the grocery today too. It was lemon flavored.

Canterbury

Monday we headed for Canterbury, home of the Canterbury Tales. Our main reason for heading to Canterbury was to see the Cathedral where Saint Thomas Beckett was murdered in the 13th century. I know I keep saying this about every place I visit, but it was amazing. We first took a river cruise up and down the river that surrounds the old city entrance. I think the cruise was my favorite part of Canterbury. We had our own private gondola and guide. The water was only a few feet deep and perfectly clear and crisp. There were weeping willows, ducks, fish and water flowers everywhere. The setting was exactly as it was in the Wind and the Willows, only we didn't get to see Toad. I felt very peaceful and inspired. I can see how Lewis Carroll came up with Alice in Wonderland in a very similar situation. Our tour guide was a lovely chap and he and Hank discussed football and the world wrestling foundation. He is an up and coming cartoonist for the WWF.
After the river tour we headed for the Cathedral. It was stunning. Each time I enter a Cathedral here I am surprised by how detailed and large they are. We spent several hours there, and were even lucky enough to have a priest and guide retrace the steps of the murder of Beckett. Hank loved it. One thing I was interested in, was the sudden disappearance of a large marble Madonna statue back in the 1980's. One day, as the priest said, it was there and the next day it was now. Wonder who stole it and how they did it? They should make a movie about it...sounds like an Oceans 14!

Dover

On Sunday, we took a high speed train out of London to Dover, home of the famous white cliffs. We tried to follow Fromers travel guide to get the castle, but a jolly English fellow told us that the 15 minute walk in the travel guide was really an uphill 30 minute hike. We took a cab. The castle was amazing. It's all about location location locations, and this place really had it. We were able to tour the underground secret tunnels used during the war. The smell reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Why is it that I compare everything to Disneyland? I blame my parents. :) Anyway, the castle was stunning and so was the view. You could see the English Channel and the White Cliffs. I've always wanted to see the White Cliffs and I wasn't disappointed. Hank and I were going to hike up them, but changed our minds. It was too bloody hot and humid.
After the castle we walked down to the beach. From the castle, the beach looked inviting and sandy. However, there was no sand to be found, only river rocks. We lounged around on the beach for a while and both got sun burnt. I haven't been burnt in AZ for several years now, and here I go getting a nice red nose in one of the palest countries. On our way back from the beach, we found ourselves in the middle of a town viewing of the England/Germany Football game on a massive TV in the town square. We left after Germany scored it's 3rd goal and the hooligans started getting fussy.

Harrods

Saturday we went to the famous Harrods, a massive department store in London. I have never seen anything like it. At the door I was given a pamphlet of the 5 floors of shopping. At first I was so overwhelmed that I was sure it was going to be the Disneyland of shopping, that is, until I saw a price tag. Rebecca Bloomwood doesn’t even shop here…and that should say all you need to know about the prices. The only thing I bought was a lovely pink cupcake from the chocolate hall (yes, they have a chocolate hall).
For some reason I just cannot sleep here. Our hotel room is without air conditioning, which is pretty typical for the UK, but we’re dying down here in our little basement room. When we arrived, the Hotel owner told us that he put the Americans in the basement because it was their coolest room in the hotel. He failed to mention the pigeon though. I’ve been up since 5, and I’m waiting until 7:30 for breakfast. Yesterday I ate my first traditional English breakfast at our hotel and it was quite tasty. Today we’re off to Dover, which is 2 hours outside of London. Should be fun, and hopefully I get some sleep on the train.

The Cotswalds and Blenheim Palace

Yesterday we went on a group tour of Blenheim Palace and the Cotswalds, which is about an hour or so outside of London. The bus driver was crazy scary as he booked it through the tiny streets, cutting of any biker, pedestrian or taxi that got in his way. Our tour guide was a strict woman who threatened to leave us at every stop we made if we didn't follow the time line that was set for our travels.
Our first stop was Blenheim Palace, which is were Winston Churchill was born. It was gorgeous and I've decided that when the time is right, I shall purchase it and make it my summer home. We were only allowed an hour to be there, and through fear of Frau tour guide, we stepped to it and saw as much as we could. I could have stayed all day though.
Sadly for me, staring out the bus window was not the best idea. I forgot my motion sickness meds and got really car sick. I slept for most of the bus ride, opening my eyes every now and then when I would hear Hank and Mary talk about how beautiful the towns were. Our next stop we were allowed 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES!! Thats enough time to get out and get back in. At our last stop, we were given an hour to tour this beautiful little village in the Cotswalds. We sat by a little river and enjoyed being away from the Frau and the bus. I slept all the way home.

The First Night

We are in the basement room. We have a view of a little courtyard, which I found to be beautiful until “they” arrived. “They” are pigeons who find it funny to coo all night long. Coo. Coo. Coo. Between the cooing and the lady throwing up (paper thin walls), I’ve slept on and off for about 5 hours tonight. It is now 6:30am, and I have been up since 5. Doing what? Entertaining myself on the computer (no wi-fi) and finding ways to open the Pringles without waking up Hank…so far, so good. The Pringles are delicious.  We’re meeting Mary at 8am for a trip to the Cotswalds and Blenheim Palace. I still can’t believe I’m finally here in England again. Oh, and the pigeon is back. Coo.

London Bound

When our flight left for London it was 10pm Philadelphia time. We had a 6 ½ hour flight ahead of us. I watched 2 movies, took a Tylenol PM and proceeded to stay up to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Turns out, at 40K feet, you can't see the ocean. Bummer. I finally did get about 2 hours of sleep (I think?). We arrived in London at 10am London time…I think it was 2am in Phoenix, but it doesn’t matter because I am now a Londoner. It was noon by the time we got to our hotel, which is in a lovely part of town close to the tube station. Today we adventured to find the grave of John Arbuthnot, but had no luck. Apparently he’s buried at St. James Church near Picadilly, but a lovely man from the church said that many of the graves were destroyed during the war. Too bad, Hank really wanted to see it. We spent our evening down by the London Eye and Aquarium, eating at the one place I refuse to eat at in the states…McDonalds! I ordered sweet and sour sauce and got a lovely sour cream and chives sauce for my chicken strips. It’s always an adventure eating in the UK.

Caio Arizona!

We left Arizona at 11:55 am. Our first flight was headed to Philadelphia…a place of which I’ve never been, but never had much desire to go to. Either way, that’s where we were headed. A miracle almost occurred before the plane took off. Hank and I were in a row of 3 seats on a fully booked aircraft. We were one of the last to board, so naturally I was excited when I saw that no one was sitting in the seat next to me. It was time to leave and I was all cheery with the thought of having 2 seats all to myself, plus the empty seat was by the window! At last, I heard the doors of the plane shut, and then I saw him. He was wearing a pin striped fedora, adorned with feathers and an alligator (or dinosaur) hat glued to the top of it. This was to be my seat companion for the next 4 hours. My new friend, of whom I never did catch his name, turned out to be the most interesting person I’ve met in some time. We chatted about this and that and he read my tarot cards, which was really cool. I mean really, who gets their tarot cards read by a 24 year old wearing a gator fedora on a flight to Philadelphia. Anyway, so I didn’t sleep on that flight, which is out of my normal passing out on every train, plane and automobile that I get on routine. During our layover in Philadelphia, Hank and I had cheese steaks. On our way back, I must get myself a Paddy’s Pub shirt.